Flatlined

Chapter 1: Here we go

"So there's this new patient in Room 1090 with a tumour in his head the size of a football!"

"We've tried everything- Furosemide, nitrosemide, spironolactone. Nothing just seems to work."

"One of the nurses from paeds told me that Dr.Moore proposed to Dr. Lavue right in the middle of surgery!"

In a sea of doctors , patients and nurses ,I craned my necked around for an empty table. Spotting one at the far end of the cafeteria, I rushed forward as fast as I could with a plate full of food in one hand and medical charts in the other.

Life as 1st year oncology resident at Mercy West hospital was all about the rush. The minute you slowed down you would find yourself lost in the competition that was the hospital food chain.

I hardly had an hour to eat lunch and complete the medical charts of atleast a half dozen patients. I was in the middle of my charts when two people placed their trays on the table. I didn't have to look up to know who it was.

"You done with your charts yet?",  asked Blaire as she stuffed her mouth with french fries. We met on the very first day of our intern year 2years ago and have been friends ever since.

" Yeah im just about done. " , I said as I jotted down the patient details carefully. "Hey do you guys have any idea about what patients we're being assigned to next.?I tried to ask Dr. Adams but as usual she didn't tell me much. She just said they were cases that needed to be handled with utmost care, whatever that means. ".

"Well I could tell you, but whats in it for me huh?" said my other friend Zach with a devillish smile on his face. " A little birdie told me exactly what our next cases are ."

" Well you'll tell us unless you want your pretty little face to meet my fist. And which one of your birdies was it exactly? Was it the blonde chick that you were flirting with down in the Dermatology department." said Blaire with irritation evident in her voice.

Zach was famous around the hospital for his flirting skills. Those steely grey eyes and husky voice had captured the hearts of many fellow doctors and nurses.

" See this is exactly why you dont have a boyfriend, my dear. Youre too cranky and irritated all time. You really need to loosen up and have fun." said Zach while reaching out for Blair's sandwich.

Blaire looked liked she was ready to kill him with her bare hands. Before this conversation could turn into a fight ,I jumped in. " Seriously guys, you two need to stop bickering all the time. Zach  if you tell me what our next cases are I'll do all your paperwork for the next week."

 "Blaire you really need to learn from Layla." said Zach with his trademark smirk." You see Layla ,we're going to have to deal with trickiest patients of them all- the little humans."

Kids. We're going to have to deal with kids.I could feel all blood draining from my face.

When I chose a career in oncology I knew it would mindwrecking. Patients come to us for help in the hardest journey of their life.
It's our duty to not only cure their cancer but to also give them the strength  and support to keep fighting. Despite years of medical training telling us not to, many a times we end up getting attached to patients.
And now with kids it's gonna be a real rollercoaster ride.

All of our pagers started buzzing at the same time. We were to report to Dr. Adams in the oncology ward.

Here we go.